Rampage zip Moose

Maybe it’s since the Rampage were playing the Moose, but the place still reeked of animal excrement.

I mean, I couldn’t use that lead if they played the Rivermen, for example.

Right?

But the Rampage played a 60 minute game against a team that hasn’t won here since Dec. 2006, a stretch of six straight wins for San Antonio over Manitoba in Texas.

And there were people up here in the bleeders!

It is so nice to have company around the pressbox. No offense Katie Krause and Michael Mulhurn of the Rampage PR staff and broadcaster Dan Weiss.

But when there are people at the hockey game way up here, that means one thing.

Noise all around us.

And that’s a great thing for hockey in San Antonio.

And they were treated to a great game from the locals, smothering any Moose shots that SA goaltender Justin Pogge didn’t get himself. There were very few rebounds.

“It’s my first shutout in the AHL in two years, but you can’t live on it,” said the 6-4 Rampage netminder on assignment from Anaheim. “It’s definitely nice to have.”

Pogge likes to handle the puck, which could mean gray hairs for his coaches, but his tape-to-tape pass to Kyle Turris from his crease to the Manitoba blueline resulted in Pogge’s fourth assist on the season – giving him more points than three of his teammates.

And the fans were treated to four picture perfect Rampage goals.

Kevin Porter’s opening salvo, upstairs after zippy passes from David Spina (good to see number 17 back out there after missing the first 53 games) and Shaun Heshka, was a masterful play and finish.

Mikkel Boedker stole the puck at the Rampage line, knocked it over to Spina and had the instinct to go toward the Moose line where Spina hit him in stride. Boedker finished with a forehand fake, backhand shot for a 2-0 lead.

Then Kyle Turris went water bottle on a tight wrister just under the bar and inside the right post for a 3-0 lead.

And then Andrew Orpik, who’s brother Brooks is busy in Vancouver with the USA hockey team via the Pittsburgh Penguins, stole the puck at the Moose blueline and fed Gavin Morgan for a nice slip shot under Schneider for a 4-0 lead the Chik-fil-A for everyone.

The Rampage made the game look easy.

Tonight, there’s another one for these two teams, and with Military Appreciation Night, there’s a good chance I’ll have company again upstairs with a big crowd and an emotional night at the rink for this retired Air Force master sergeant. Gotta hand it to the Rampage staff — they do Military Appreciation Night right.

Other Things

The Rampage have just two more losses than second place Rockford, but trail the Ice Hogs by 14 points.

How so?

The win column.

The Frozen Shanks have nine more victories, rather than overtime losses, and they have played three more games than San Antonio.

So the Rampage can theoretically shave six points off that distance with wins in those three games. They did pick up two points on idle Rockford Friday night, which reduced the games-in-hand from four to three.

Of the four playoff-bound teams, the Rampage thus far match up best with the Hogs for some reason.

They enjoy better goaltending, and when the Rampage actually have AHL defensemen in the lineup, the backline is better.

Rockford has an edge up front, with a more productive veteran presence, but Rockford has been on a nice run that could dry up soon.

The Rampage should have posted points in the two losses to Rockford last week – close games on the road.

The team the Rampage have no business being on the same sheet of ice with – well, ok, that would also apply to most AHL teams right now – are the Chicago Wolves, who would give some NHL teams trouble right now.

But the playoffs are within reach if:

A). The Rampage figure a way to score on the Texas Stars, who have shut out San Antonio three times and allowed only one goal in another game. That’s a 0.25 GAA folks.

B). Catch the Wolves on a bad weekend and hope their players hit the bars on the Riverwalk when they get here. If their division lead is in good shape, the latter could happen.

C). Every other team in the division beats Milwaukee. The Rampage don’t play the Admirals again, so will need help in getting the Midshipmen to plummet in the standings.

D). Go on a 22-game winning streak.

E). Make sure Houston and Peoria don’t advance at their expense. Both teams are struggling right now. Houston can’t find the net and the Rivermen were shaken when their coach, Davis Payne was called up to lead the Blues in St. Louis. The Sons of San Antonio have to beat them when they meet in their seven games.

Right now, the Rampage trail the fourth place Admirals by nine points or four and a half games.

The Cavalry has arrived from Phoenix

Defenseman Anders Eriksson, and forwards Joel Perrault and Brett MacLean will be wearing the Rampage colors tonight, and that’s good news for the Rampage’s playoff hopes.

Perrault keyed an eight-game winning streak during the last two weeks of the season last year that almost got the Rampage out of the basement. He can score in the AHL, and usually does when the game is on the line. Perrault is also the all-time franchise scoring leader.

MacLean leads the team in scoring and goals, and although his call-up was for practice sessions, it’s nice to have his prowess here where his goals can win games for San Antonio rather than make an impression on the Phoenix brass in practice.

Fun with Stats

The Rampage have outscored opponents 10-2 in the second period in the last six games, 18-4 in the last 11.

The Rampage are 1-17-2-1 when trailing after two periods… but are 18-2-1-2 when they have the lead after two.

The Rampage are 11-13-1-1 when they outshoot opponents, but are 14-10-2-5 when foes have the advantage.

Random Thought

Is it just me – or is it cool or what in the game intro video how the up-the-scale “aaaahhhhhhhhh” goes right along with the skate sharpening sparks up the blade? Watch for it next time you go. Very nice!

RT-2

One of the funniest video’s shown at the AT&T Center — T-Bone’s San Antonio Olympic Moment of skiing down the stairs at the Alamodome! I can imagine the skaters in the crowd, taking notes, either working out their routines or making emergency room reservations on their Ipods. Snap, face, broken!